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Monday, October 24, 2016

Hidden Gems: Dare by Tricia Mingerink

Hey everyone! Hope y'all are having an awesome Monday. :) Well, as awesome as any Monday can be anyway... *cough*

If you have not already glanced over the above post graphic, then let me enlighten you. I'm participating in Shantelle'ssuper cool bookish series, Hidden Gems! :D This week Shantelle is spotlighting author Tricia Mingerinkand, in participation, I'll be posting reviews of a different book in the Blades of Acktar series every other day. :) Ordinarily I publish my book reviews on Chosen Vessels, but since this is part of a link-up-ish thing, and this blog gets more traffic... Well, here I am. ;)

Hope you enjoy! :D

Courage could cost him everything.

Third Blade Leith Torren never questions his orders or his loyalty to King Respen until an arrow wound and a prairie blizzard drive him to the doorstep of the girls whose family he once destroyed.

Their forbidden faith and ties to the Resistance could devastate their family a second time.

Survival depends on obedience, but freedom beckons. How far does he dare go to resist the king and his Blades?

Ahhh, this book. *clutches it to my heart* It's truly a gem. I'm so grateful I stumbled across it – last year – as a gift ebook for participating in a Black Friday sale promotion. :D

I devoured the entire 300+ pages within two days (had there not been a huge and awesome snowstorm at the same time, who knows, I may have read it ever quicker ;)) and loved. every. speck. of. it.

Up until then (January) I had read hardly any fantasy. Maybe even none (not sure...) So I started into this with some reservations and totally expecting to not like it. Peeps...I was so wrong. I fell in love with this series – hard and fast.

The whole 'wicked bad Blades serving King Respen, and the Resistance fighting back against the darkness' plot line was soooo awesome. The storyworld (Acktar) that Ms. Mingerink has built is amazing. It has a western feel with prairies and plains and horses, but it's also got a medieval touch with lords and ladies and castles. *smiles* It's just perfect-o.

The characters are amazing and well rounded. My personal favorite is Leith, is...just...ohmygoodness, I don't even knnooowwww. I love seeing his struggle between right and wrong, acceptance and rejection. *hugs book* And then Renna, she's such a dear. She too has struggles and challenges to face throughout the book. I enjoyed her character in Dare, but more so in Deny. :) And there's Brandi. Golly, do I love that child. Can I please adopt her? She's so sweet and caring and funny. Gotta love her. <3

And THAT ENDING!!! Gaaahhhh. As I was nearing the end I'm like "oh, yay, it's going to end so happily!" *fake laugh* Haha, nope. More like end with me screaming. "What?! No?! This can't happppeeennnn to meeeeee."

(A few cautions... There are some described murders, stabbings, torture, etc. and for those reasons I wouldn't recommend it to a younger – under 11/12 – audience. But for teens? Yeah, it's a great book. ;))

A hearty five of five stars!! :D

~*~*~*~

Have you read the Blades of Acktar series? Are you participating in Hidden Gems? Check back in Wednesday for a review of book two, Deny!! :)

You know me and the Blades of Acktar. Dangerous mix. I go crazy just thinking about them! ALL TIME FAVORITE SERIES! I couldn't live without these. When we were evacuated with the fire and I packed my things, these were some of the first to go. I absolutely adore these books, characters, plots. So amazing! This was one of my first fantasy series too, and it also got me enjoying more fantasy! I think you and Jesseca Dawn told me about the series...THANK YOU SO MUCH! Love them soooo much!

Okay. I think that's enough. Did I convey how much this series means to me?? :P Thanks for doing this post! Can't wait for Deny and Defy!

*grins* Aren't they great?! There's definitely favorites of mine as well!! Aww, yes, books would be what I would be packing first too. :) I actually don't have the whole paperback set of these – need to remedy that! These were the first fantasy I read as well (pretty much the only though :P). So glad I *could* recommend them to you!! :)

Hehe, yep, I believe you did. ;) So glad you enjoyed and I hope you like the others as well. :D

About Me.

Saved by God's grace, I'm a teenage writer and homeschooled PK, living with my family and beloved yellow labs in the southeastern US. When I'm not writing stories, consuming large amounts of coffee, reading stacks of books, or creating wheel-thrown pottery, I can be found laughing harder than is healthy, daydreaming, and – of course – blowing dandelions.